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Sam Long joins the club this year as forward coach, which is interesting in itself as he played most of his career as a back man!

How does that qualify you to be a forward coach?

Well, as Sam sees it, he has played on some of the best forwards in the QAFL so he reckons he has learnt a thing or two about forward positioning and what worries defenders the most about forwards and forward entries.

Sam arrived from Mt Gravatt where he coached the Vultures Reserves last year and was senior assistant coach there in 2014-15.

He moved across to the Western Magpies this year after Mt Gravatt decided on several changes within the club and he was offered the Colts coaching job but he preferred to stay in senior coaching ranks.

Sam grew up in South Australia and moved to Queensland in the late 1980s with his family and played with UQ. He had a couple of seasons under Quentin Johnson when "Quince" coached the students in the 1990s.

He moved to Mt Gravatt in the early 2000s and played at full back in the Vultures 2002 premiership side.

He started his coaching career as playing coach of UQ Reserves in 2012-13 before moving back to Mt Gravatt to take on the assistants role.

He is pleased with what he sees at the Pies in 2017 and says the Pies more structured approach to training and the coordination between all the coaches across all grades in the club has been as good as he has seen. He is impressed with Senior Coach Brydan Morgan and the professional approach he and the club have taken to keep the Pies at the upper echelon of QAFL football.

The Pies have lost some tall timber from the forward line this year so Sam has been working on a game plan to suit a fast and smaller forward group.

Although he has been in Brisbane for 30 years, he is still a loyal crow eater and follows the Adelaide Crows.

A mature aged footballer with good pedigree, Sam also immediately took the eye of the Woodsmen, and will be suiting up with the old boys on Friday nights!